The present disclosure relates in general to the field of computer development, and more specifically, to virtualizing computing system elements within the context of software development and testing.
Smart phones, tablet computers, wearables, and other mobile computing devices have become very popular, even supplanting larger, more general purpose computing devices, such as traditional desktop computers in recent years. Increasingly, tasks traditionally performed on a general purpose computer are performed using mobile computing devices with smaller form factors and more constrained features sets and operating systems. Further, traditional appliances and devices are becoming “smarter” as they are equipped with functionality to connect to or consume content from the Internet. For instance, devices, such as televisions, gaming systems, household appliances, thermostats, automobiles, watches, have been outfitted with network adapters to allow the devices to connect with the internet (or another device) either directly or through a connection with another computer connected to the network. The interconnection of an increasingly large number of devices, or “things,” is believed to foreshadow a new era of advanced automation and interconnectivity, referred to, sometimes, as the Internet of Things (IoT).